Get Investment Ready is designed to help creative businesses like yours. The programme will support you to develop the skills to secure investment so that you can achieve your ambitions for your company to grow. It is tailored to the needs of different creative disciplines, their respective markets, governance and distribution models.
Stage 1 has been designed for businesses who want to grow and explore commercial investment pathways. Over six months, you will be placed in a cohort of businesses with access to: a course of workshops designed to unlock your commercial capacity and describe routes to investment and growth; two one-to-one mentoring sessions to define and refine your business ambitions; the to Ethical Equity Simulator – a unique piece of software that enables users to learn about the different types of investment from a practical point of view. Stage 1 closes with a diagnostic session with investment mentors to help you plan the next steps on your investment journey.
Stage 2 is an intensive investment readiness programme for businesses who are ambitious to get commercial investment. Over nine months, you will receive: on-going one-to-one mentoring to address your challenges and craft a bespoke nine-month journey for your business; a course of workshops covering business foundations and sector-specific challenges; opportunities to meet and pitch to investors.
Fill in our EOI form to express interest in Get Investment Ready (make sure to read our FAQs before starting, reach out to the team if you have any questions).
Once the team has looked at your EOI they will be in touch to discuss if they think you are eligible for Stage 1, Stage 2, or to discuss different options and opportunities. Please allow up to 4 weeks for a response to the EOI. This is a rolling application and can be completed at any time; the team will advise on when the next Stage 1 and Stage 2 cohorts are running and check your availability.
Businesses may be invited into a diagnostic process, which will allow for our investment and business mentors to look at the potential of your business and its future invest-ability.
Stage 1 has been designed for businesses who want to grow and explore commercial investment pathways. Over six months, you will be placed in a cohort of businesses with access to: a course of workshops designed to unlock your commercial capacity and describe routes to investment and growth; two one-to-one mentoring sessions to define and refine your business ambitions; the to Ethical Equity Simulator – a unique piece of software that enables users to learn about the different types of investment from a practical point of view. Stage 1 closes with a diagnostic session with investment mentors to help you plan the next steps on your investment journey.
Stage 2 is an intensive investment readiness programme for businesses who are ambitious to get commercial investment. Over nine months, you will receive: on-going one-to-one mentoring to address your challenges and craft a bespoke nine-month journey for your business; a course of workshops covering business foundations and sector-specific challenges; opportunities to meet and pitch to investors.
Fill in our EOI form to express interest in Get Investment Ready (make sure to read our FAQs before starting, reach out to the team if you have any questions).
Once the team has looked at your EOI they will be in touch to discuss if they think you are eligible for Stage 1, Stage 2, or to discuss different options and opportunities. Please allow up to 4 weeks for a response to the EOI. This is a rolling application and can be completed at any time; the team will advise on when the next Stage 1 and Stage 2 cohorts are running and check your availability.
Businesses may be invited into a diagnostic process, which will allow for our investment and business mentors to look at the potential of your business and its future invest-ability.
The North East Create Growth Programme is a collaboration between the North of Tyne Combined Authority and Creative UK. Seven local authorities across Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Gateshead, Durham and Northumberland are also supporting the programme. In addition, sector specialists including: Generator, Sunderland Software City, North East Screen, New Writing North, and North East Local Enterprise Partnership are also involved.
Please read our programme FAQs before submitting your EOI.
The North East Create Growth Programme is a collaboration between the North of Tyne Combined Authority and Creative UK. Seven local authorities across Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Gateshead, Durham and Northumberland are also supporting the programme. In addition, sector specialists including: Generator, Sunderland Software City, North East Screen, New Writing North, and North East Local Enterprise Partnership are also involved.
North East Create Growth Programme is a programme of support that focuses on helping founders of creative businesses to become more sustainable, build a growth plan and develop an investment strategy and proposition. The programme will look like:
The North East Create Growth Programme is a collaboration between the North of Tyne Combined Authority and Creative UK. Seven local authorities across Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Gateshead, Durham and Northumberland are also supporting the programme. In addition, sector specialists including: Generator, Sunderland Software City, North East Screen, New Writing North, Creative Fuse and North East Local Enterprise Partnership are also involved.
The programme launched in November 2022 and will run until March 2025. The cohorts will be staggered across the two years. The estimate dates are as follows:
To be eligible for the business support under the programme, you must meet the following criteria:
We are particularly keen to hear from businesses who have creativity at their core and who have a strong ambition to grow and improve their business performance. For example, this can be in the form of advancing a product range, growing an audience, diversifying revenues, improving profit margin, becoming self-sustainable, securing investment or developing commercial partnerships.
Once the team has looked at your EOI they will be in touch, either with an invitation to fill out a full application form to join the programme, or to discuss different options and opportunities. Please allow up to 4 weeks for a response to the EOI. This is a rolling application and can be completed any time. However if you have a preferred cohort, ensure you complete this before the cohort deadline. The estimated deadlines for the cohorts are as follows:
The first edition of our North East Create Growth Programme has officially begun. In June 2023, this intensive, six-month support scheme kicked off with a launch event held at Gateshead’s Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art welcoming each of the 16 creative businesses taking part in 2023’s inaugural cohort.
Applications are now open for DCMS Create Growth Programme competition 2. If you have questions about your application for Innovate Competition 2, please contact Innovate KTN. If you would like to notify us that you are considering an application to Competition 2, please fill in our Expression of Interest form mentioning the competition in the ‘Tell us how you plan to deploy investment’ field.
Unpack your Potential: Investment Bootcamp Explained
Our North East Investment Bootcamp aims to give founders everything they need to create a growth plan that’ll strengthen their business offering and help them secure investment. Across six months, 20 businesses from the region will receive a package of bespoke mentoring support and access to exclusive one-to-one time with investors from a range of backgrounds. Meanwhile, by being encouraged to work on their business rather than in it, they’ll be able to rewire their creative brain to ensure that both their company and creative goals are reached.
Eager to learn more? Programme Manager Jackie Boyd unpacks some key details with her interview with Simon Bland
Read interview
The first edition of our North East Create Growth Programme has officially begun. In June 2023, this intensive, six-month support scheme kicked off with a launch event held at Gateshead’s Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art welcoming each of the 16 creative businesses taking part in 2023’s inaugural cohort.
The second cohort for the North East’s Create Growth Programme was announced as they met for for the first time in Newcastle’s Common Room.
Read more about the second cohort here.
Applications are now open for DCMS Create Growth Programme competition 2. If you have questions about your application for Innovate Competition 2, please contact Innovate KTN. If you would like to notify us that you are considering an application to Competition 2, please fill in our Expression of Interest form mentioning the competition in the ‘Tell us how you plan to deploy investment’ field.
The first edition of our North East Create Growth Programme has officially begun. In June 2023, this intensive, six-month support scheme kicked off with a launch event held at Gateshead’s Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art welcoming each of the 16 creative businesses taking part in 2023’s inaugural cohort.
The second cohort for the North East’s Create Growth Programme was announced as they met for for the first time in Newcastle’s Common Room.
Read more about the second cohort here.
Applications are now open for DCMS Create Growth Programme competition 2. If you have questions about your application for Innovate Competition 2, please contact Innovate KTN. If you would like to notify us that you are considering an application to Competition 2, please fill in our Expression of Interest form mentioning the competition in the ‘Tell us how you plan to deploy investment’ field.
Please contact northeast@wearecreative.uk if you want to start a conversation with us or have any questions and a member of the team will get back to you.